Yeah baby — young love and 60s music
Play set in English pub in swinging 60s
Yeah baby . . . Levin Performing Arts Society is about to get groovy with its latest show A Slice of Saturday Night. It tells the tale of teenage dreams, young love against the backdrop of a nightclub in England in the swinging 60s — with off the hook music to match.
Without giving too much away, it centres around a group of teenagers dancing and flirting on a Saturday night at the popular Club A Go Go in England in the 1960s.
Sue goes out with Gary, but he flirts with Penny and the other girls. Sharon and Rick like each other, but are too shy to let on. Eddie tries it on with Bridget, while club owner Eric hears it all as we take a trip back to an iconic era of music, dance and fashion.
With many of the hairstyles and fashions of the 1960s in vogue right now, the production would appeal to all generations.
Levin Performing Arts Society first performed A Slice of Saturday Night some 28 years ago, so the show would resonate with anyone involved or who remembers the 1994 show. Back then the society put on a show that started at 8pm, and then another one that started at midnight.
A Slice of Saturday Night is the debut of new director Libby Bruhn, who had been involved at LAPS for many years on stage and also by putting her considerable artistic skills to work on set designs behind the scenes and helping out with stage crews.
Production manager Lorraine Lepper said Bruhn was shoulder tapped as a good fit for the show and in recognition of her behind-thescenes experience.
Bruhn and the rest of the team worked with a young cast who have an opportunity to show off their talents. There are some brilliant theatrical performances with some out of sight vocal performances, too.
The nature of the musical allowed the live band, led by musical director Milton Matahaere, to position itself on stage as part of the pub setting, rather than off stage and dimly lit, as is usually the case for the band.
The band looks and feels like a moving part of the set. The music in the show is early 1960s British pop and rock, so snippets of popular riffs and rhythms feature in the songs with influences from the likes of Elvis, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Gene Vincent and others.
Margaret Sanson was in charge of choreography, which would have been no small task given the amount of hip swaying and groovin going on.
A Slice of Saturday Night opens at Levin Performing Arts Society tonight at 7.30pm and will perform a total of eight shows over the next fortnight.
The popular musical was originally produced in London in the late 1980s and was written by the four Heather brothers, Lea, Neil, Charles and John.